When Mohammed Choudhury was studying for A-levels, one of his teachers mentioned apprenticeships as an alternative to university. Now the 19-year old is learning computer coding and fixing software bugs for the Gloucestershire precision manufacturing firm Renishaw. Many of his friends went to university, but Choudhury has no regrets about picking a software apprenticeship.

“Your work is being put to use rather than just in the back of a cabinet,” he says of the kind of learning and earning scheme that is set to become more widespread as the government shakes up the apprenticeship system this week.

Choudhury’s feelings about his apprenticeship will be music to the ears of ministers as they introduce a new levy on big employers from Thursday under plans to reach 3m new apprenticeship starts in 2020.

“The biggest selling factor for me was the experience because I have got aunts and uncles who have a degree but were struggling to find a job and they told me how important the experience was,” says Choudhury.

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The new levy and tougher rules on what qualifies as an apprenticeship have been billed by the government as a way to plug Britain’s skills gaps, boost social mobility and raise productivity.

However, not all employers share ministers’ enthusiasm. Some feel the levy is simply another burden on top of business rates bills, auto-enrolment pensions and rising minimum wage rates. The levy must be paid by employers in England with a payroll of more than £3m and is charged at a rate of 0.5% of their annual wage bill.

Others feel the levy and a new watchdog on apprenticeship standards were a long time coming. Now that Brexit brings the prospect of tighter immigration controls, many employers see a pressing need for all sectors to tackle skills gaps.

“For too long there has been underinvestment in British skills for the benefit of all. Through the apprenticeships levy, we will now have a system which helps and encourages businesses to invest in the skills they need, while helping people to climb the ladder of opportunity,” says Halfon.

The government says it is already making progress with more employers offering apprenticeships and more young people signing up.

Employers have also expressed concern at how quickly the levy is being brought in.

But James Selka, chief executive of the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), says the government deserves credit for putting alternatives to university on the map. He feels the push from Whitehall is complementing work by business to present apprenticeships as an attractive route into a career.

His sector has been working to improve its standing among families with schemes such as school visits and design competitions for teenagers.

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Parents’ and schools’ views will be a key challenge for the government as it targets the 3m apprenticeships mark in a society that has long held university degrees in higher esteem.

There has been progress on that front already, says Linsey Temple, who runs Gloucestershire Engineering Training (GET), providing apprenticeship programmes and other bespoke courses for companies.

“I think the government supporting apprenticeships and really promoting it has driven people,” she says. “I also think from a young person’s point of view with all the publicity around going to university and racking up debt, it’s giving the youngsters more information to make decisions.”

‘I can get to where I want to be in a shorter period of time,’ says Deniz Gunes, an apprentice with Deloitte accountants in London. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

One of the companies working with GET is Renishaw. The engineering firm needs a steady supply of skilled workers for its very specialised work in making products for dentistry, brain surgery and advanced manufacturing.

“If there was no levy and there were no government subsidies for apprenticeships, we would be doing them anyway. Because it’s a business need for us,” says Brian Marsh, who looks after training at the company from apprentices through to researchers on PhD courses.

Renishaw has been taking apprentices every year since 1979 and retains 90% of them. This academic year the number of new apprentices matches the number of graduate trainees, at 45 in each group.

“We have almost reached the stage where a manager would rather have a third-year apprentice than a new grad. The apprentice can do quite a lot of stuff a new grad can’t. So they might be able to sit down and tell you the square root of a cube, but they can’t actually make the cube for you,” says Marsh.

One of Renishaw’s new apprentices, Peter Underwood, 19, feels that schools must do more to help boost apprenticeships. He did maths, physics and computing at A-level in Essex and moved to Gloucestershire for a Renishaw apprenticeship.

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“It was kind of a hard choice at first. All my friends were going off to uni and all the schools push university and they don’t really advertise apprenticeships much. So it was all off my own back having to look for apprenticeships,” he said.

While engineering has long relied on apprenticeships there is hope the levy will also encourage other sectors to open themselves up to employing more people through paid training schemes.

The accountancy firm Deloitte says even before the levy, white collar apprenticeships were becoming more important as its sector realised the business benefits of casting a wider recruitment net.

Deloitte launched a scheme in 2011 for school leavers and in September 2016 it took on 200 new apprentices. That was twice as many as 2015, albeit a small portion of the total 1,200 student recruits hired each year, with the bulk being graduate trainees.

One of the people on the apprenticeship scheme is 20-year-old Deniz Gunes. He had offers from universities but found out about professional apprenticeships while on a gap year and changed plans.

“It’s the fact I can get to where I want to be in a shorter period of time,” says Gunes. “I’m still getting the education and also getting the benefits of working.”